The Problem
Description Child labour is defined as work that harms children or keeps them from being in school. An estimated 215 million children are child labourers worldwide. Places Affected Child labour is a widespread problem, that has affected millions of children worldwide. There are now 76 countries that are labelled as a 'high-risk' for this problem, with Asia and Africa holding the most risky child labour countries. Agriculture continues to be the highest occupation that contains child-labourers, but there are also many children working in mines, child trafficking, and domestic services. The top ten ranked high-risk countries for child labour are: 10. Ethiopia 9. Pakistan 8. Burundi 7. Afghanistan 6. Zimbabwe 5. Democratic Republic of Congo 4. Sudan 3. Somalia 2. North Korea 1. Myanmar (Burma) Social Impacts The social impacts of child labour are hard and run deep. Child workers derive mostly, if not all the time from poor families in need of more money to support themselves. Children working more than 20 hours a week at any age can be damaging to their psychological state of mind. These children are far more likely to grow up and send their children off to work at a young age, without any education at all; the cycle will continue. Many children who work long hours also become depressed and isolated, and will stop them from developing healthy emotions when they grow up. These children who grow up will continue to work at hard manual labour for the rest of their lives, without ever having a chance at a better standard of living. Poor people have a higher risk of breaking the law sometime in their life. Child labourers, who come from poor families and will continue to be poor because of lack of education and resources, have a higher chance of becoming criminals. With more criminals being made through the lack of educating their children and sending them off to work instead, the world's crime rate will increase dramatically if this issue is not solved. And no country is completely free of child labour. Child labour also affects them physically. The long hours and poor conditions, child labourers often suffer from chronic fatigue, muscle pain as well as many diseases. Economic Impacts The problem with child labourers is that more often than not, they have no choice but to be forced into these high-risk jobs with little to no education in order to support their family. If parents cannot afford to pay for school, or the supplies for school, then it's really a choice of survival. Would they rather be able to eat or get an education? Child labour also helps the economy, as child workers often work under the minimum wage, and recieve little to no benefits. For corporations and businesses that need to have thousands of workers in order to meet up with the demand of supplies, this sounds like a great idea. If all child labourers were to be set free, then the economy would be affected negatively in contries that are sustained on child labour.